Ben Miraski on high school sports | T.F. South's Gomez makes the leap to first singles

April 25, 2012|By Benjamin Miraski | Chicago Tribune reporter

Big steps have been the key to Jessica Gomez's success on the badminton court.

The T.F. South sophomore had to take them to complete the transition from the tennis team her freshman year.

"It some cases it was really difficult, because you move in big steps for badminton and little steps with tennis," she said.

Learning that change enabled Gomez to make another big step, from ninth singles her freshman season up to first singles this year. The jump in standing on the team hasn't slowed her. Through Monday, Gomez was 46-1 this season.

The T.F. South badminton team is 19-0 with several tournament wins, the latest an easy run to the DeKalb Tournament title Saturday. Gomez beat teammate AndrianaJohnson for the individual title.

It wasn't exactly unexpected out of the Rebels. They finished second to Sandburg at state last year, although most of the lineup turned over. Much of the team will be back with Gomez over the next two seasons.

Gomez knows she still has a lot to learn. Her mother offered advice earlier this year to focus on positive aspects of every match and not dwell on losing or the scores.

"It's not just a sport," Gomez said. "You learn stuff like life lessons.

"Last year, I didn't lose at all. You learn something from losing. You want to get better after that."

Gomez openly said she wants to win state before she graduates, but knows it won't be easy.

"State — I am sure I will be really nervous," Gomez said.

Chokran's goal count keeps rising: It has been an open secret that Joey Chokran is scoring goals for St. Charles North's boys water polo team this year. It's just a mystery how many he is going to score before the season is over.

In an 18-6 win over Lincoln-Way West on Saturday, Chokran scored seven times, bringing his season total to 118 goals, a North single-season scoring record.

"I honestly didn't know we kept track of water polo records," he said. "One of my friends from last year (Justin Jacobson), he had like 80-something, and I was just trying to beat him."

Chokran hasn't been trying to run up the score on opponents. Saturday's win was just the seventh this season for North. Much of the scoring has fallen to Chokran because the North Stars are inexperienced at the varsity level.

"A lot of it is just knowing when to pass and when to shoot," he said.

Much of his time in the pool has been spent trying to teach the game to his teammates.

"We are young, but we still have to go out and do what we have to to give our best game to the team across the pool," Chokran said.

St. Charles North has had its share of successes. The North Stars beat a team ranked by illpolo.com for the first time this year. Chokran thinks they have a chance to win another big game.

"We are in the play-in game against Hinsdale South," he said. "We have a chance to win a playoff game for the first time in school history."